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Sylvia Mathews Burwell

Aspen Strategy Group

Sylvia Mathews Burwell

Sylvia Mathews Burwell is President of the Walmart Foundation. Previously, she was President of the Global Development Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where she oversaw the foundation’s efforts to help the world’s poorest people overcome hunger and poverty. Mrs. Mathews Burwell led Global Development’s areas of grantmaking: Agricultural Development; Financial Services for the Poor; Water, Sanitation & Hygiene; Global Libraries; Policy & Advocacy and Special Initiatives. She joined the Gates Foundation in 2001 as executive vice president and served as chief operating officer and executive director from 2002 to April 2006. Before joining the foundation, Mrs. Mathews Burwell served in the Clinton administration as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, assistant to the president, deputy chief of staff to the president, and chief of staff to former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin. Prior to her work in federal government, she worked for McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm, where she focused on consulting for financial institutions. She serves on the board of directors for MetLife Inc. and the Council on Foreign Relations and is a member of the board of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. She is also a member of the Trilateral Commission and the Nike Foundation Advisory Group. Mrs. Mathews Burwell is a graduate of Harvard University and is a Rhodes scholar. She is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group.